Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED February 6, 1951 E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 By DEB NLT, Date 9-4-85 SECRET SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS MEETING OF Embassy Moscow has forwarded the text of FOREIGN MINISTERS of the latest Soviet note on the question of a possible meeting of the four Foreign Ministers, which was handed to our Charge by Mr. Vyshinski yesterday at 3:30 p.m. The note repeats the Soviet position in general terms, in- cludes several paragraphs obviously designed to complement its "peace" propaganda campaign, but concludes by stating that the Soviet Govern- ment does not oppose the convening of a preliminary meeting of repre - sentatives of the four powers in Paris. With regard to the desire of the US Government to ensure a broad field of discussion, including subjects other than Germany, the note states that the Soviet Government considers as possible the discussion of other questions "in the composition and in the manner provided for by the Potsdam Agreement. " It also states that any preliminary meeting should be confined to the drafting of an agenda, including the establishment of the order of consideration of questions, and that substance of questions should not be considered by the prelimini- nary meeting. UNITED NATIONS We have informed our UN delegation that we consider that passage of the US resolution ushers in a new phase of UN action to meet aggression in Korea. In summarizing our thinking concerning the next steps which should be taken, we point out that we desire to make every effort to maintain and enhance the willing cooperation of the peace-loving majority of UN members. In particular, we believe we should stress our continued willingness to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the Korean conflict on the basis of UN principles. Although we are not in a position at this time to know whether it will be possible to stabilize military operations around the 38th parallel and to look forward to an acceptable cease-fire and some relaxation, through efforts of the Good Offices Committee, of Far East tensions, we believe great care should be exercised to see that, if this possibility exists, nothing is done at the UN or elsewhere to destroy it.